Geography

Macedonia is a landlocked state in the heart of
the Balkans and is slightly smaller than the state of Vermont. It is a
mountainous country with small basins of agricultural land. The Vardar is
the largest and most important river.

Government

Parliamentary democracy.

History

The Republic of Macedonia occupies the western
half of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia. Historic Macedonia was defeated
by Rome and became a Roman province in 148
B.C.
After the Roman Empire was divided in
A.D.
395,
Macedonia was intermittently ruled by the Byzantine Empire until Turkey
took possession of the land in 1371. The Ottoman Turks dominated Macedonia
for the next five centuries, until 1913. During the 19th and 20th
centuries, there was a constant struggle by the Balkan powers to possess
Macedonia for its economic wealth and its strategic military corridors.
The Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, ending the Russo-Turkish War, gave the
largest part of Macedonia to Bulgaria. Bulgaria lost much of its
Macedonian territory when it was defeated by the Greeks and Serbs in the
Second Balkan War of 1913. Most of Macedonia went to Serbia and the
remainder was divided among Greece and Bulgaria.